Heartbeat Lesson Plan

Concepts: Steady beat vs. rhythm

Quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythms
Skills: Keeping a steady beat in the feet and on lap
Reading, singing, and tapping quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythm patterns
Objective: I can read, tap, and sing rhythms in Heartbeat.
Materials: Projector
Whiteboard & marker
Heartbeat
Heartbeat inside of me,
Its a secret no one sees.
Can you hear it?
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Process:
1. Stand in a circle. Students practice keeping a steady beat in their feet.
2. Teacher sings song while students keep steady beat in their feet.
3. Be my echo. Teacher sings first phrase, students echo. Repeat for remaining three
phrases.
4. Sit down. Image of four rows of four hearts each is projected onto the whiteboard. (This
can be done using PowerPoint or a similar program.) Sing the song while keeping the
steady beat on your lap. Students tap beat and sing while teacher follows along on board
and draws one hash mark in each heart.
5. What was I showing in the hearts? Thats right, the steady beat. Now lets tap the rhythm
of the words. Students tap on hands and sing while teacher taps in hearts on the board.
6. Sing the last phrase with me. (Sing and point to last row of hearts.) Does the rhythm of
the words fit what we have in the hearts? (Yes) Now try the third phrase. Students sing
and again agree that the rhythm of the phrase matches the beat.
7. Sing the first phrase now. (Students sing while teacher points.) Does the rhythm of this
phrase match what we have on the board? (No) Lets fix it. (Teacher points to first heart.)
How many sounds in heart? (One) So this one is okay? Lets move on. (Point to second
heart.) How many sounds in beat in? (Two) Two? So I will draw another line to make
two sounds in that heart. And Ill connect the lines with a bar over the top because these
two are friends. Continue process with the rest of first and second phrases until all of the
hearts now show the rhythm of the song.
8. Lets tap and sing the whole song to make sure what we have on the board matches our
rhythm of the words. Students tap and sing. Does it match? Yes, it does! Now lets tap
and sing with tas and ti tis. Students tap and sing rhythm syllables.
9. Were going to play a game. Im going to erase what we have in this bottom row of
hearts and write in new rhythms. You have to tap and sing each rhythm correctly to beat

me. Lets see if I can trick you! Students read rhythms and tap and sing rhythm
syllables. Rhythms include quarter notes, eighth notes, and quarter rests.
10. You are all rhythm rock stars! I cant fool you! Lets the sing the song one more time
while we tap the rhythm.
Assessment: Assess students beat competency while they are stepping in place and tapping on
lap. Watch for tapping of correct rhythms. Listen and watch for correct rhythm syllables and
tapping while students are reading and performing new rhythms.
Daisy Lesson Plan
Concepts: Steady beat vs. rhythm
Quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythms
Skills: Keeping a steady beat
Clapping, saying, and reading quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythms
Objective: I can clap and say rhythms in Daisy using ta and ti-ti.
Materials: Wood block
PowerPoint, projector, and screen, or rhythm cards
Daisy
Baby, baby, lets go crazy,
Lets go feed my doggie Daisy.
Process:
1. Sit in a circle. Tap steady beat on lap. Keep your steady beat and listen please. Teacher
recites poem.
2. What is this poem about? What is the dogs name? Be my echo please. Say first line of
poem and students echo. Repeat with second line. Now say the whole poem with me.
3. Stand up please. Keep the steady beat in your feet. Teacher taps beat on wood block
while students step in place.
4. Say the poem with me as you walk around the room. Keep the steady beat in your feet
while youre walking. Teacher taps wood block while students walk around room and
say poem.
5. Freeze! On the word, Daisy, no matter where you are in the room, turn and face me.
Lets practice that. Say poem and move again.
6. Now after you turn and face me, were going to do something kind of silly. Were going
to pretend were dogs. I will bark rhythms at you and you bark them back to me. Lets
practice.
7. Alternate between saying the poem/moving and barking rhythms. Then add next step in
sequence: This time Im going to say a kind of dog and you echo me. Lets practice.
Gradually add in final steps of sequence: teacher plays rhythm on wood block and
students clap it back, teacher plays rhythm and students clap it and say rhythm syllables.
8. Perform entire sequence. The sequence is: say poem bark rhythms say poem speak
dog names say poem clap rhythms say poem clap rhythms and say syllables. The
teacher can repeat any part of the sequence more than once if he/she feels the students

have not mastered it. The four rhythm patterns/dog names are: Great Big Lab-ra-dor (ta ta
ti-ti ta), Ver-y Lit-tle Poo-dle (ti-ti ti-ti ta ta), Bas-set Hound (ta ta ta rest) and Gi-ant
Schnau-zer (ta ta ta ta).
9. Sit down in circle. Show PowerPoint slide with names of four dogs. Students speak name
of each dog while clapping rhythm. Then show corresponding rhythm patterns
underneath dog names. Students clap and say each pattern with rhythm syllables.
10. Move to new slide that shows one of the four rhythms. Which dog is this? After
students answer, test their theory by having them clap and say dogs name, then clap and
say rhythm syllables. Does it work? Students will identify whether or not the two
rhythms match. Repeat for all rhythms.
11. Move through sequence of rhythm pattern slides, asking students to clap and say on tas
and tis for each one. Then challenge students to a lightning round where they must
read all of the rhythms without pauses in between.
Assessment: Assess beat competency as student are moving about the room. Watch and listen for
correct rhythm syllables and clapping as students are reading rhythms.
Rain on the Green Grass Lesson Plan
Concept: Steady beat vs. rhythm
Quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythms
Skills: Keeping a steady beat
Singing, clapping/tapping, reading, and writing quarter note/rest and eighth note rhythms
Objective: I can read and write the rhythms in Rain on the Green Grass.
Materials: Umbrella
Rhythm cards (one measure patterns)
Rhythm cards (quarter notes, eighth notes, quarter rests)
Rain on the Green Grass
Rain on the green grass,
Rain on the trees,
Rain on the rooftops,
But not on me.
Process:
1. Stand in circle. Students keep a steady beat in their feet as teacher sings song.
2. What is this song about? Listen for three places where the rain falls. Teacher sings
again. Where does the rain fall?
3. Teacher sings and students echo each phrase, then sing through whole song together.
4. Were going to pass this umbrella to the beat as we sing our song. But first lets practice
just the passing. Students pass the umbrella while chanting Pass it, pass it (pass
every 2 beats)
5. After students are comfortable with the passing, add the song. The child who ends up
with the umbrella on me will choose a rhythm pattern card at random. The child must

clap and say the rhythm syllables and the class repeats it back. Repeat passing game
several more times.
6. Sit down. Lets tap the rhythm on our hands as we sing the song. Students sing and tap.
There are two rests in this song. Just listen this time and think about where the rests
might be. Teacher sings. Where are the rests? Show me. Students sing and show rests
(hands on shoulders) after trees and me.
7. Pass out rhythm cards. Students work in pairs or groups of three. For each line, students
sing words and tap rhythm, tap alone, and sing rhythm syllables and tap, then write out
the rhythm with their cards. Do first two lines as a class, and then allow students to work
together to figure out last two lines on their own. Teacher circulates through room to
check work.
8. Students sing entire song with rhythm syllables as they point to cards. Do your cards
match?
9. Ask students closing questions such as Point to two lines that have the same rhythm.
Point to a quarter note. Point to a pair of eighth notes. Point to three quarter notes in a
row. Point to a quarter rest.
10. Sing the song as students clean up the cards. Challenge students to have their cards put
away and be seated quietly back in their spot when the song ends.
Assessment: Assess students individually as they read rhythm patterns in the passing game.
Listen for singing of correct rhythm syllables. Look for correct rhythms when students are
placing cards. Assess students understanding of quarter note, eighth note, and quarter rest when
asking closing questions.